Collaboration Aims to Boost mRNA Vaccine Production in Africa

In a significant move towards vaccine autonomy in Africa, three companies have joined forces to develop an end-to-end mRNA production platform. Egypt's EVA Pharma, France's DNA Script, and Belgium's Quantoom Biosciences announced their collaboration on Wednesday, aiming to address both nucleic acid-based vaccines and therapeutics, including messenger RNA (mRNA) and self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) technologies.

A Digital-to-Biologics Approach

The partnership seeks to create a "digital-to-biologics, end-to-end mRNA production platform" that could contribute to the Africa CDC's goal of increasing local vaccine production to 60% of the region's demand by 2040. This initiative comes as part of a broader effort to bolster the continent's immunization autonomy, particularly in newer technologies like mRNA.

The platform will combine DNA Script's enzymatic DNA synthesis technologies with Quantoom's proprietary tech for mRNA synthesis and formulation. EVA Pharma will contribute its vaccine development expertise, along with sterile manufacturing and marketing capabilities. If successful, the collaboration aims to produce 100 million doses of RNA-based vaccines annually.

Addressing Regional Goals and Global Health Challenges

This initiative aligns with several regional objectives, including Egypt's ambition to manufacture 385 million vaccine doses annually by 2030. The partners hope their platform will enable rapid responses to infectious disease outbreaks and support routine immunizations for both humans and animals.

The collaboration also plans to develop next-generation saRNA-based vaccines for human and animal health, further expanding the potential impact of their work.

Broader Context of African Vaccine Production

This partnership is part of a larger trend of efforts to bring vaccine production autonomy to Africa, which gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other initiatives in this space include:

• The World Health Organization's mRNA vaccine hub in Cape Town, South Africa, which opened in 2023 and involves local biotech Afrigen Biologics.
• BioNTech's Rwandan mRNA vaccine plant in Kigali, which opened in late 2023 and is set for expansion with support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

However, not all efforts have been successful. Moderna, for instance, paused plans in April to build a $500 million production plant in Kenya, citing a lack of vaccine orders from Africa since 2022 and significant financial losses from order cancellations.

As the pharmaceutical landscape continues to evolve, collaborations like the one between EVA Pharma, DNA Script, and Quantoom Biosciences represent a renewed push towards localizing advanced vaccine technologies in Africa and beyond.